Nintendo Switch: The Revolutionary Gaming Plalform

We’ve been writing about Nintendo NX for well over a year and a half now, but finally, we get to add a bit of substance to our reporting given the company’s release of a three-minute trailer from the company. While questions have finally been answered, more have been raised as the trailer showed no real gameplay whatsoever and included no release date or price.

Image source: YouTube Video Screenshot

Marketing department turns the NX into the Nintendo Switch

We were never entirely certain that the fabled Nintendo NX would be released under that name and now we learned that it would not be. The Nintendo Switch will be released in the first quarter of 2017, and its name is certainly a nod to the hybrid nature of the game system. A switch to something new, a portable game system that allows play from anywhere on the go but that also is supported in the home with the addition of your TV something that more traditional consoles already offer without exception.

We knew that we were going to get a hybrid system with wacky new controllers on either side of the Switch. The Switch essentially is a tablet with controllers on either side acting as both necessary for gameplay and handles. In its entirety it’s a portable gaming system, but the controllers come free to allow two players to play using the same tablet display. Additionally, they can be connected to one another to get a single controller with considerably more buttons.

Okay, I’m not going to mince words, this is one of the strangest pieces of gaming equipment I’ve ever seen, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing but I’m really struggling to make comparison’s to any other piece of gaming hardware on the market and it’s certainly going to require actual gaming to get my head around what I’m looking at when I study the Switch.

Hell, I would have liked to have seen some actual gameplay in the trailer to explain better what it is that I think I’ve now seen. But, alas, that was not meant to be and remain at a bit of a loss.

OK, it seems to have five ways of using the Switch which is certainly different or Switch

Firstly, it’s clearly a console meant to be attached to a television through the use of a dock for home gaming similar to what you would get from a Playstation or Xbox. But then it gets all sorts of different quick. Controllers that you were using for playing games on the couch are then attached back to the docked screen component and can then be removed from the dock for a mobile gaming system that looks pretty cool.

Nintendo is calling the controller for the switch a Joy-Con and is comprised of an analog stick and four buttons on each controller, using something called a Joy-Con Grip accessory which puts the two together and gives you more control options.

I’ve now watched the trailer roughly ten times, and I’m still not sure what I’m looking at yet and would encourage you to have a look for yourself with the understanding that you will likely be watching the 3:36 trailer more than once and still be scratching your head.

When mobile it’s quite clear that someone else with a Switch will allow for multi-player gaming through multiple Switches, but you’ll also be able to each use a single controller and compete using the same screen that has a kickstand for its upright placement on a table-top or counter-top.

It appears in addition to the two Joy-Cons, there is another controller available for purchase for more robust use at home.

It seems the games, while Nintendo says “cartridges,” look like triple-sized SD cards that can be inserted directly into the body of the tablet and offer the same game play whether at home or on the go.

For now, we know that Nintendo intends to release at least six of their own games by the launch of the Switch in March. These include such titles as The Legend of Zelda,Mario Kart, a new Super Mario game; a team shooter called Splatoon, a fantasy game The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and some NBA game that may or may not feature actual players and their ratings and statistics.

But while many eagerly await Nintendo’s titles the company has said that an additional 48 companies are on board to produce additional games for the Nintendo Switch. Some of the notable names include EA, Bethesda, Capcom, Activision, and Ubisoft

There is no question we will continue to report on this revolutionary new gaming system.